Royal Caribbean President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adam Goldstein (photo, to the right) sold 120,000 shares of his company's cruise stock on August 2 and 3, 2017. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.21 for a total sale of $14,185,200.00, according to the SEC.

Three cruise CEO's sold their Carnival (CCL) stock a week ago for a combined total of nearly $9,500,000, according to Market Digest.

On December 29,2016, Stein Kruse, the CEO of Holland America Group, Alan Buckelew, the Chief Operations Officer of Carnival Corporation, and David Bernstein, the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer of Carnival Corporation each sold 60,664 shares of Carnival stock at $52.11 per share for a total value of $3,161,201.00.

Mr. Bernstein has been the CFO and Senior Vice President of Carnival Corporation since July 2007 with oversight of all finance, accounting, treasury, insurance, tax and investor relations functions. Mr. Buckelew, who was recently appointed to the Chief Information Officer of Carnival Corporation, previously served as the CEO of Princess Cruises from June 2007 to November 2013 and its President from February 2004 to November 2013.

The DOJ recently fined Carnival Corporation $40,000,000 for widespread discharge of oily substances, falsification of log books and lying to the U.S. Coast Guard regarding five cruise ships operated by Princess Cruises over an eight year period from 2005 through 2013. The Carnival owned cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises which were involved in the scandal are the Caribbean Princess, Star Princess, Grand Princess, Coral Princess and Golden Princess.

The issue arises what the cruise executives knew about the long standing "magic pipes" and financial irregularities associated with certain Princess Cruise ships having lower operating costs associated with not having used the vessels' oil-water separators and avoiding the costs associated with offloading and disposing the waste oil in shore-side facilities. Did these executives really have no idea that these Princess ships were engaged in these environmental crimes?

The SEC also reflects in a seperate filing that on October 20, 2016, Mr. Arnold sold 91,813 shares of Carnival stock, totaling $4,285,142, in multiple trades at prices ranging from $46.51 to $46.99 for an average price of price of $46.70. Mr. Donald reportedly currently owns 532,340 shares of CCL stock which, at today's value, is worth $24,892,218.40.

Mr. Arnold is generally considered to have done a good job guiding the cruise line after a disastrous series of groundings and engine room fires several years ago. He has overseen Carnival while it invested attention and money toward the maintenance of its fleet of over 100 cruise ships; however, Mr. Donald remains susceptible to criticism by overworking and underpaying Carnival crew members.

The Securities and Exchange Exchange Commission reported this past week that the president & CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd ("NCLH"), Frank Del Rio, bought 83,498 shares of NCLH at an average price of $35.94 a share. (Photo below, right, during interview on CNBC).

The transaction took place on on August 31, 2016. The total cost of cruise stock purchased was $3 million.

The price of the stock decreased to $35.61 by the end of the week. It is at a 52 week low.

It was widely reported earlier last month that NCL had slashed its earnings forecast for this year and announced that it would miss its profit target for next year, because of "continued weak demand" for European travel, Brexit's impact on the pound, and some U.S. consumers reconsidering Mediterranean cruises following ISIS-inspired violence worldwide.

Analysts say that its been a "choppy year" for the cruise industry in general, and for shares of Norwegian Cruise Line in particular. NCLH stock reportedly "retreated to levels last seen in mid-2014." Frank Del Rio's $3 million cruise stock purchase, according to Wolfe Research analyst Jared Shojaian, is "the largest open market purchase by a cruise-line executive in history."

Bloomberg says that Del Rio is attempting to demonstrate confidence in NCL to "sail through choppy waters."

It is a move similar to Royal Caribbean's Chairman Richard Fain who bought 29,190 shares of RCL stock, in a series of trades for an average of $68.5161 per share, worth nearly $2,000,000. Cruise executive Fain made the transaction shortly after his cruise line's stock price dropped substantially following the release of Royal Caribbean's second quarter earnings. But in Fain's case, unlike Del Rio's, the cruise stock quickly bounced back over 6.5 %, earning the cruise executive a one-day profit of around $140,000.

Del Rio certainly has boatloads of money to buy stock. In 2015, he received almost $32,000,000 in total executive compensation.

The SEC states that he directly and indirectly holds 919,173 worth of his cruise line stock. The SEC forms reveal he owns 451,171 shares directly. He indirectly owns 27,875 shares through a family trust and the SEC forms state that he indirectly holds 304,373 and 135,754 shares through investment limited liability corporations. The total shares are worth over $34,000,000 at the current depressed stock prices. The Norwegian Cruise Line stock price hit a high last year of $64.27 a share which, at that price, would be worth a total of nearly $60,000,000 to Del Rio.

It's no wonder that cruise passengers freak out when NCL nickel and dimes them with room service charges, increased gratuties and high-end restaurant cover charges.

Yes, cruise executives pocket an obscene anount of money. It's funny money, I say, at a time when crew members are working harder and longer than ever before for less and have no job security.

Royal Caribbean Cruises President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adam Goldstein sold 90,000 shares of the cruise line's stock today.

Mr. Goldstein sold the shares at $98.88 per share for a total value of $8,898,804.

Mr.Goldstein last sold RCL stock in July when he sold 4,184 shares at at $91.08 per share for a total value of $381,094.19.

At that time, he joined other cruise line executives dumping RCL stock. Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain sold 151,032 shares of his cruise line's stock for $13,650,151 at an average price of $90.40 a share. Royal Caribbean's General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer Bradley Stein sold 2,402 shares of the company stock for for a total value of $218,748.70. These insider traders sold $14,249,993 of company stock last summer.

October 27, 2015 update: Royal Caribbean Chairman & CEO Richard Fain sold 80,516 shares yesterday. The Insider Trading Report said that the insider selling transaction was disclosed on October 26, 2015 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares were sold at $98.80 per share for a total value of $7,955,335.00. Together, cruise executives Fain and Goldstein sold $16, 854,139 worth of Royal Caribbean stock yesterday and over $30,000,000. since July.

According to the DFN, "following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer (Mr. Goldstein) now directly owns 253,153 shares in the company, valued at $25,031,768.64."

October 29, 2015 update: Royal Caribbean's Vice President Harri U. Kulovaara reportedly sold 8,228 shares of RCL stock on October 27th at an average price of $100.32, for a total of $825,432.96.

Yesterday, Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain sold 151,032 shares of his cruise line's stock for $13,650,151 at an average price of $90.40 a share. President and Chief Operating Officer Adam Goldstein sold 4,184 shares at at $91.08 per share for a total value of $381,094.19. Royal Caribbean's General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer Bradley Stein sold 2,402 shares of the company stock for for a total value of $218,748.70. In sum, these insider traders sold $14,249,993 of company stock.

A little over 10 days earlier Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas burst into flames as the cruise ship approached Falmouth, Jamaica. The ship burned for one and one-half hours and destroyed all of the insulation around the exhaust stack from the bottom deck to the fifteen deck. Many passengers, crew members and maritime experts believe that the fire may have started due to the installation of a scrubber system on the cruise ship and the welding process to accomplish the work. Royal Caribbean is not saying, of course.

The cruise lines has also been criticized for downplaying the fire, saying that it was just a "small fire" which was contained in the lower mechanical spaces and it was quickly extinguished, all patently false statements as we have demonstrated in video and photographs. To make matter worse, the cruise ship sailed onto the next port without a post-fire inspection by the flag state (Bahamas) or the classification society. This ship never should have sailed on without a rigorous inspection after the fire. The photographs clearly show that the ship sustained major damage. The photographs and first hand observations by the crew confirm that the fire destroyed the insulation around the exhaust stack and this presented a grave potential danger to the ship's passengers and crew.

My opinion is that the Royal Caribbean cruise executives effectively misled the public about the fire in order to maintain the stock's improved performance. The company shares have rallied 46.38% in the past year. On July 31, 2015, the shares had rallied to one year high of $90.88 compared to a one year low on October 15, 2014 of $52.32.

If the executives had shut the ship down in Jamaica for the mandatory SOLAS inspection, this would have resulted in tens of millions of dollars spent by the company on lodging, airfare of all passengers back to Miami and cruise refunds to over 4,000 people which would have had a material negative effect on the company's stock. Did the executives put their financial interests ahead of passenger and crew safety? Absolutely they did, in my opinion.

What do these executives really think about the stock value now that the fire is out and the cruise line has dodged, so far, a publicity fall-out? One analyst said that "Mr. Richard’s trade could mean only one (thing): that he’s a pessimist when it comes to the Company’s prospects and its stock price."

Fain & company bamboozled the public with the "small fire" hoax. I suspect that the executives thought that it was time to cash out and put some more millions in their accounts before the truth comes out.

He used to associate the word "disaster" with Carnival Cruise Lines. Between the Costa Concordia sinking, engine room fires, the Triumph "poop cruise," passengers sick with norovirus, the Arab Spring - it "seemed the company was doomed," says CNBC.

But Carnival has enjoyed a turnaround with its stock hitting new highs.

I think its a tad late to get in on the CCL run, plus it takes only one Carnival cruise ship hijacked or attacked to send all cruise stock falling dramatically. But its always fun to watch Cramer ramble on in his unique way.

By my calculations he has sold well over $900,000,000 of his cruise line's stock in the last 12 months.

After this latest sale, the Arison family reportedly still has about 159,200,000 shares of Carnival stock.

This vast wealth was generated by incorporating the cruise line in Panama and registering Carnival-owned cruise ships in places like Panama and the Bahamas in order to avoid all U.S. taxes, safety regulations, and wage & labor laws so Carnival can pay the bulk of its crew members peanuts.

Carnival-owned Costa paid just a little over $1,000,000 in fines after the Costa Concordia disaster, which killed 32 people, in order to escape accountability in the criminal trial of Captain Schettino.

I've written many articles about the rich-get-richer schemes of cruise executives: paying the crew members a pittance, making the crew work for 10-to-12 hours a day 6-to-8 months without a single day off, firing hundreds of office employees when the stock drops, and so forth and so on.

Well you can add this article to the list.

The Securities & Exchange Commission revealed that Royal Caribbean's Chief Operating Officer Adam Goldstein unloaded 90,000 shares of the company’s stock yesterday. Goldstein sold a small portion of his RCL stock at an average price of $77.31 for $6,957,900.00. Following the the sale, he still owns 310,724 shares of his cruise stock, valued at approximately $24,022,072.

The Securities & Exchange Commission reports that Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Executive Vice President Andrew Stuart sold 67,701 shares of NCL stock in a transaction last week at an average price of $40.35, for a total value of $2,731,735.35.

Mr. Stuart reportedly now owns 180,099 shares of the cruise line stock, valued at approximately $7,266,995.

So, including just his NCL cruise stock and cash from his recent NCL stock sale, Mr. Stuart is worth at least $10,000,000.

Cruise executives make fantastic money. We all know that Carnival executive Micky Arison is worth somewhere between $5,000,000,000 and $6,000,000,000 (billion). Royal Caribbean executives Richard Fain and Adam Goldstein have raked in over $100,000,000 between them. And even a vice president, like Mr. Stuart, can make $10,000,000.

At the same time, the tax-free cruise industry is incredibly cheap when it come to paying crew members a decent salary. Cleaners routinely work well over 300 hours a month for as little as $550. Crew members receive virtually no benefits.

Mr. Stuart's company, in particular, routinely refuses to permit cruise passengers who have just lost a family member, or children diagnosed with cancer, to reschedule their vacations.

All those nickels & dimes NCL is saving off of its hard-working crew members and unfortunate customers are lining the pockets of the cruise executives.

Carnival Chairman and major stockholder Micky Arison sold 212,474 shares of Carnival stock on Friday, September 19th at an average price of $40.22 for a total of $8,545,704.28, according to the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Yes, this is a serious amount of money. But its peanuts for this cruise tycoon.

Reuters reports that Royal Caribbean's CEO Richard Fain recently sold 94,850 shares at average price of $62.38 for a total value of $5,916,743.00; and exercised options for 51,143 shares at $7.27 per share for a total value of $3,190,300.00.

CEO Fain holds over a million shares of his cruise line's stock. Reuters says he holds 1,380,000 (million) shares for a value of over $86,000,000. Tech Insider says that Mr. Fain owns 1,153,689 company shares for a total value of around $72,000,000. This excludes the shares owned by various trusts for the benefit of of the Fain family.

Earlier this week, we reported that Royal Caribbean Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adam Goldstein unloaded sold 42,152 shares of RCL stock at an average price of $61.68 for $2,599,935.36. COO Goldstein still owns 370,724 shares valued at $22,866,256.

Notwithstanding the vast wealth of these cruise CEO's, Royal Caribbean has made substantial cut-backs in the salaries of its staff and crew members, increased work, and reduced benefits.

COO Goldstein still owns 370,724 shares of Royal Caribbean stock, valued at $22,866,256.

Royal Caribbean announced its earnings results on Thursday. The cruise line reported revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2%.

We last reported on Mr. Goldstein in February when he sold 44,256 shares of Royal Caribbean stock at an average price of $52.96, for a total transaction of $2,343,797.76.

What do the hard working crew members and the loyal shore-side cruise employees think of all of the money Mr. Goldstein is raking in?

The cruise line pays a minimal salary to Royal Caribbean waiters and cabin attendants of only $50 a month; the cruise passengers pay tips to the waiters and stewards but the cruise line is scooping up much of the tips to pay other crew member's salaries. Employees like utility cleaners earn a pittance of around $550 a month (with no tips) working around 11-12 hours a day, every day of the month during contracts that are 6-8 months long.

Speculation in publications like this and this suggest that he may be interested in buying the U.K. Aston Villa soccer club.

Considering how badly Arison's Miami Heat have been playing basketball in the NBA finals (now down 3-1 to the San Antonio Spurs), perhaps Arison will be spending some time in the future in England watching soccer.

Last week I wrote an article about Royal Caribbean CEO and President Adam Goldstein cashing in over $2,300,000 worth of Royal Caribbean stock, still leaving him with around $19,000,000 worth of his company's stock.

It's difficult to justify the enormous wealth of the cruise executives given the fact that the cruise business is rigged to create gigantic profits free of U.S. taxes. Cruise lines like Royal Caribbean (Liberia) and Carnival (Panama) incorporated in foreign countries in order to avoid U.S. taxes, labor and wage laws, and safety regulations. The cruise lines pay dirt cheap wages to laborers from India and the Caribbean islands. They provide no benefits at all to their loyal crew members.

Cruise executive compensation isn't tied to whether the line's ships sink or catch on fire. One of the Royal Caribbean cruise ships, the Grandeur of the Seas, caught on fire for two hours last year yet cruise CEO Goldstein still raked in millions. Cruise executives are rewarded for squeezing blood out of the stone.

Tax-fee Royal Caribbean pays a salary of only $50 a month to its waiters and cabin attendants who it works like dogs, relying on the tax-paying cruise passengers to pay tips so the employees can try and make a living. Yet Royal Caribbean is stealing, some say, some of the passenger money intended for tips and using the "tips" to pay the salaries of the non-tip earning crew members. Last year Royal Caribbean fired over one-hundred employees in its corporate offices here in Miami because of "tough economic times." Yet the cruise line executives like CEO Goldstein and chairman Richard Fain still pocketed millions and millions and millions at the end of the year.

No doubt the cruise employees are getting the shaft. The crew is getting poorer while the fat cat executives are getting richer and richer.

The greediest cruise executive in my opinion is, hands down, no doubt-about-it, by-far Micky Arison. He makes Goldstein look like chump change. Arison is the news this weekend after agreeing to sell up to 10 million shares of Carnival Corporation stock. At $39.50 per share, that's $395,000,000. 5 million shares were sold on Friday and the remaining shares will be sold over the next 15 months, After the sale is complete, the Arison family will still own 188,000,000 shares worth over $7,426,000,000.

What will multi-billionaire Arison do with the $395,000,000? Build medical clinics in Goa, India where most of his crew members come from? Fund the retirement benefits for his hard working Filipino crew members who have slaved away far-from-their-children for decades on his ships? Create schools in Nicaragua where thousands of family members of Carnival crew members reside? No, no, no. The nearly $400 million in cash will be solely for his own tax and estate planning.

CEO Arison paid himself a $90,000,000 bonus in 2002 - the same year of the Costa Concordia disaster. In my assessment, he seems like a money hoarder without a social conscious. Here are some of the infamous incidents involving Carnival Corporation and its brands over the last few years:

It is an amazing spectacle to watch Arison enrich himself irrespective of the Concordia capsizing and the Triumph engine room fire.

Just last week we commented on Carnival's press release, issued during the middle of the Triumph "poop cruise" trial here in Miami. Carnival characterized the cruise passengers, who endured four days in the Gulf of Mexico after the negligently maintained old ship caught fire, as greedy.

I suppose it's business as usual for Carnival to malign its Triumph cruise guests while chairman Arison is cashing in a fraction of his cruise stock during the middle of the Triumph trial for $395,000,000.

Royal Caribbean Cruises President and CEO Adam Goldstein sold 44,256 shares of Royal Caribbean stock yesterday. Zolimax News reports that Mr. Goldstein sold his stock at an average price of $52.96, for a total transaction of $2,343,797.76.

After the sale, Mr. Goldstein's stocks total 358,804 shares, valued at approximately $19,002,260.

Royal Caribbean (RCL) has a 52-week low of $31.35 and a 52-week high of $53.42.

We last reported on the cruise president's stock sales in October of last year when he sold 7,855 shares of RCL stock at an average price of $43.22, for a total value of $339,493.10. At that time, he reportedly owned 335,654 shares of Royal Caribbean stock, valued at approximately $14,506,966.

It looks like the cruise executive's net worth has increased by over $7,000,000.

Royal Caribbean pays a salary to its waiters and cabin attendants of only $50 a month; the cruise passengers pay tips to the waiters and stewards but Royal Caribbean is scooping up much of the tips to pay other crew member's salaries. Employees like utility cleaners earn a pittance of around $550 a month (with no tips) working around 11-12 hours a day, every day of the month during contracts that are 6-8 months long.

Yesterday, I wrote a short article about Royal Caribbean President Adam Goldstein selling 2,181 shares of RCL cruise stock earlier this week at an average price of $36.80, for a total value of $80,260.80. Cruise executives buying and selling their company's own stock is interesting to me as an indicator into their true thoughts about the direction of their business' future.

That being said, an cruise executive's sale of only $80,000 worth of stock doesn't say much. $80,000 may pay the annual wages of a dozen RCL utility cleaners but it's pocket change for a cruise line president. Goldstein still owns 335,654 shares of the company’s stock worth over $12,350,000.

But today Forbes reports that Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain purchased 26,800 shares of RCL stock which, at a price of $36.82 a share, turns out to be $985,776.

As Forbes writes: "company’s own top management tend to have the best inside view into the business, so when company officers make major buys, investors are wise to take notice."

RCL’s low point in its 52 week range is $24.16 per share. Its 52 week high is $38.62.

So CEO Fain is buying near the top of the chart. Seems risky to me.

As we mentioned this week, research firms are split on RCL's stock. One analyst gave the stock a "sell" rating, nine analysts assigned a "hold" rating and ten issued a "buy" rating. RCL currently has a consensus rating of “hold” and a consensus target price of $40.21.

Travel Weekly quoted Fain at the cruise line's second-quarter earning call last week. He said that despite the “unrelenting pressure of a deluge of negative publicity” on the cruise industry, things are looking up. Mr. Fain said the company is overcoming what he called the "CNN effect” of negative media scrutiny on things like highly publicized cruise ship fires that have occurred this year.

Royal Caribbean suffered a serious fire to its Grandeur of the Seas. And just last month,it's subsidiary brand Pullmantur's Zenith suffered an engine room fire which disabled the ship which needed to be pulled by tugs to back to shore.

Royal Caribbean is also suffering from the spill-over effect from the negative publicity caused by Carnival's Costa Concordia disaster and the Triumph's infamous "poop cruise," in addition to other Carnival cruise ship mishaps.

Does Mr. Fain know something that the analysts and the public doesn't know? Or this really a big calculated bluff to prime the pump of positive thinking?

I am not too sure that I would bank on a more positive public perception of the cruise industry developing naturally. The "CNN effect" is real. In my opinion, the images broadcast by CNN are a lot more persuasive and powerful than the positive musings of a hopeful cruise executive.

Plus there's a couple of things to keep in mind. There are increasing cut backs in RCL officer and staff salaries and crew pay coupled with an increase in their responsibilities which are deteriorating morale on the ships. Some of the tips which formerly went to the RCL cabin attendants and waiters are being channeled away from the crew to the company's income stream and destroying the crew's attitude in the process. And the MLC will come onto effect next month, restricting crew member working excessive hours, which may increase RCL's costs, restrict the cruise line's historical exploitation of its crew, and push its profit margins down.

RCL's cost cutting measures helped it to squeeze out a profit this past quarter, but it was under $25 million on gross revenues of $1.88 billion. How much more can RCL cut from the already overworked and underpaid crew?

And no cruise executive pumping up a stock price would dare mention Senator Rockefeller's announcement last week that he intends to introduce legislation to take away the loopholes in the U.S. tax code which permits the cruise lines to avoid U.S. taxes on its foreign flagged cruise ships.

Are brighter days ahead for RCL and CEO Fain's newly acquired 26,800 shares?

Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing is certain. All it will take is for one cruise ship to suffer another engine room fire for the "CNN effect" to send the RCL stock price plummeting south.

July 31 2013 Update: Watch List News reports that Royal Caribbean Cruises' President Adam Goldstein "dumped 16,717 shares of the stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.20, for a total value of $621,872.40."

The Daily Political reports that Royal Caribbean President Adam Goldstein (left) unloaded 2,181 shares of RCL cruise stock yesterday at an average price of $36.80, for a total value of $80,260.80.

Goldstein still owns 335,654 shares of the company’s stock worth over $12,350,000.

A number of research firms have recently commented on RCL's stock value. One analyst gave the stock a "sell" rating, nine analysts assigned a "hold" rating and ten issued a "buy" rating to the company’s stock. RCL currently has a consensus rating of “hold” and a consensus target price of $40.21.

The stock has a 52 week low of $24.16 and a 52 week high of $38.62.

Royal Caribbean posted its quarterly earnings last week. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, with a profit of under $25,000,000.

RCL Chairman Richard Fain (below right) said that a fire on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas, weak pricing in the Caribbean and itinerary disruptions in Asia affected earnings in the second quarter.

The cruise line's business model is predicated on its avoidance of U.S. taxes and regulations, such as minimum wage, overtime, and OHSA regulations. Royal Caribbean avoids taxes and many U.S. regulations by incorporating itself in Africa and incorporating its cruise ships in places like the Bahamas and Malta.

Royal Caribbean and its subsidiaries are currently exempt from U.S. corporate tax on U.S. source income from the international operation of cruise ships pursuant to Section 883 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Senator Rockefeller stated at a Senate hearing last week that he would introduce legislation to close loopholes in the federal tax code which permits foreign incorporated companies operating foreign flagged cruise ships to avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes.

If such legislation was enacted into law, the RCL stock value would plummet.

July 21 2013 Update:Watch List News reports that Royal Caribbean Cruises' President Adam Goldstein "dumped 16,717 shares of the stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.20, for a total value of $621,872.40."

The Associated Press reports that cruise giant Royal Caribbean lost $392.8 million in the fourth quarter because of losses associated with its Spanish cruise line, Pullmantur.

The AP states that Royal Caribbean wrote down $413,900,000 due to a substantial drop in bookings and prices in Spain following the Spanish government’s austerity measures. Royal Caribbean also blamed its losses on the Costa Concordia disaster a year ago.

Royal Caribbean had a profit of $36.6 million during the same quarter a year ago.

In December 2012, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fain sold 143,140 shares of RCL stock for $4,964,095.

Fain followed up by exercising options and selling 188,443 shares for $6,535,203, for a total of around $11,500,000.

$11,500,000 in cash in your pocket and 6 weeks later your cruise line posts a loss of over $392,000,000. Goes to show you that cruise line executives have fun making millions hand over fist regardless of how the company performs.

Video below is of CEO Fain on one of the Royal Caribbean FlowRiders (via RCCL YouTube).

Barron's reports that Royal Caribbean Cruises' top executive recently bailed out on a large block of cruise line stock just before the cruise line's shares touched a new 52-week intra-day high.

On December 13th Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fain sold 143,140 shares of RCL stock for $4,964,095, an average of $34.68 each. Barron's says that Fain followed up by exercising options and selling 188,443 shares for $6,535,203.

The RCL stock is down over a point since CEO Fain bailed on the stock. Fain still holds 1,049,064 shares directly and 421,412 shares indirectly.

The last time we wrote about RCL's CEO was when he and other executives at the cruise line were sued for fraud for allegedly making false and misleading statements about the company's fourth quarter results for 2010. In January 2011, the day after touting the financial strength of the cruise line, CEO Fain sold 200,000 shares at a price of $46.63 for what the lawsuit alleges were total illicit proceeds of $9,326,000.

Big bucks and cruise CEO's go hand in hand, irrespective of how the cruise industry is actually faring. A couple of weeks ago we wrote about Carniva's Micky Arison paying himself a bonus of $90,000,000 after what he describes as one of the one most challenging years for the cruise lines yet.

The 2012 second quarter earnings results are in for Royal Caribbean Cruises and its not good news.

The cruise line reported a net loss for the second quarter of this year of $3,600,000 - compared to net income in the second quarter of last year of $93,500,000.

Slightly fewer passengers sailed on Royal Caribbean cruise ships during this last quarter compared to 2011.

The CEO of the cruise line, Richard Fain, tied the decline in passengers and net income to the Costa Concordia disaster in Italy in January, where 32 passengers and crew died. "The steady drumbeat of negative news emanating out of Europe is certainly having an effect," Fain announced at the conference call to analysts.

Daily Finance published a debate today by the Motley Fool analysts about whether Carnival is a sound investment following the Costa Concordia disaster and the fire aboard the Costa Allegra cruise ship.

The result? Three thumbs down.

Here are the analysts' thoughts:

"I'll keep my flag planted on dry land."

"My primary beef with Mr. Arison was his delayed response (more than one week, according to The Wall Street Journal) to the Costa Concordia tragedy and his lack of response just six weeks later regarding the fire on the Costa Allegra. He seemed concerned more with the Miami Heat, which he owns, than Carnival Cruise Lines, leaving shareholders as an afterthought."

My take? Most Carnival cruise passengers are indifferent to the exploitation of crewmembers, They don't want to hear about the sexual molestation of children during cruises. And they are going to give the captain of the Love Boat the benefit of the doubt, especially over some Panamanians floating 100 miles from nowhere.

Carnival is largely disaster proof. CEO Arison has 100 cruise ships at sea, actually 99 ships cruising and one lying on its side off the coast of Giglio. Last year, $15,000,000,000 (billion) rolled in. Carnival pays virtually no U.S. taxes. Short of al Qaeda seizing a cruise ship, forcing U.S. passengers into orange Guantanamo jump suits and cutting their heads off, an occasional capsizing, collision or fire will not spook the Carnival faithful.

Carnival fans want cheap cruises on their fun ships, lots of food & booze, and an escape from reality. As long as Carnival can provide that, fat cat cruise CEO Arison will continue to laugh all the way to the bank.

A third class action lawsuit has been filed against Royal Caribbean Cruises seeking class action certification for what is alleged to be fraudulent conduct by the cruise line and executives Richard Fain, Brian Rice, and Henry Pujol.

The law suit was filed by the law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check in Pennsylvania.

Two stock fraud lawsuits recently filed against Royal Caribbean Cruises have placed the cruise line's corporate ethics under the microscope.

In the case of Todd Roth v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd, Richard D. Fain, Brian J. Rice, and Henry L. Pujol, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, Case No. 22783 - MSC, a stockholder alleges that the cruise lines withheld disclosing certain accounting errors dating back to 2009, misrepresented the company's financial status, and misled investors about the cruise line's financial future. The case was filed by the New York and Louisiana law firm of Kahn, Swick & Foti and the Florida firm of Vianale & Vianale.

The lawsuit alleges that on January 27, 2011, Royal Caribbean issued a press release where it made false and misleading statements that its fourth quarter results for 2010 were better than expected and it anticipated certain positive developments regarding its operations, expenses, costs, ratios and net income for 2010.

On April 28, 2011, after the first quarter, Royal Caribbean again made misleading statements regarding its financial status. The lawsuit alleges that CEO Richard Fain (photo left) falsely stated that "the year started off with a roar - strong bookings, low costs and solid profits - and in the first quarter every one of our brands exceeded its forecast . . . "

However, on July 28, 2011, Royal Caribbean suddenly and dramatically departed from its rosy projections regarding the company's financial operations. The cruise line published a release revealing for the first time that it was performing well below expectations and that certain accounting errors (regarding treatment of interest income relating to amortization of certain financing fees) resulted in a drastic downward revision of the company's financial statements.

This news "shocked and alarmed" investors. Royal Caribbean's stock price then fell precipitously in two days, from $35.75 to $30.50. This development had a disastrous effect on the investments of individual shareholders. The stockholder who filed suit, Todd Roth, had purchased 5,000 shares on July 26, 2011 at a price of $36.65 a share. Three days later, with the stock trading at $30.50, he lost over $30,000.

Included as defendants in the lawsuit are the CEO (Richard Fain), the Chief Financial Officer (Brian Rice) and the Corporate Financial Controller (Henry Pujol). On January 28, 2011, the day after touting the financial strength of the cruise line, CEO Fain sold 200,000 shares at a price of $46.63 for a what the lawsuit alleges are total illicit proceeds of $9,326,000. CFO Rice (photo right, below) quickly followed suit, selling 88,872 shares in the $46 to $47 range from February 1 - 14, 2011 for over $4,100,000 in illicit proceeds.

Although not named personally in the lawsuit, Royal Caribbean President Adam Goldstein sold over 40,000 shares between February 1 - 16, 2011 - for a total of over $1,900,000. Six other executives sold stock between January 28 and February 16, 2011, which combined with the stock sold by the named defendants totaled over $20,000,000.

The lawsuit alleges that these individual defendants knew that the negative financial information had not been disclosed to the public and was being concealed, and they were participants in a "fraudulent scheme and course of business that operated as a fraud or deceit on purchasers of Royal Caribbean securities . . . "

Earlier this year, in an article entitled Royal Caribbean Executives Get Richer While Crew Members Get Poorer, I reported that Royal Caribbean increased its 2010 compensation paid to CEO Richard Fain almost 60% to $8,600,000. Royal Caribbean increased the compensation paid to the company's four other named executives from 18.5% to almost 50%. The largest compensation increase of the four executives went to President Adam Goldstein whose total compensation increased to over $4,000,000.

These increases were primarily incentive based, meaning that the executives claimed that they met or exceeded certain financial goals for the corporation. With this recent revelation that the company's financial performance was overstated and that the executives allegedly committed fraud or recklessly misrepresented the cruise line's financial data, the question arises whether the incentive based millions of dollars in compensation should be returned voluntarily to the corporation or disgorged in the pending lawsuits.

The Roth lawsuit seeks class action status for what is referred to as either hundreds or thousands of other shareholders who were defrauded by the cruise line between January 27, 2011 and July 28, 2011.

A second lawsuit seeking class action status was reportedly filed yesterday by the Pomerantz law firm with offices in New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. It is on behalf of stockholder Stanley Wolfe and was filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, Case No. 22855. This lawsuit seeks class certification for stockholders who purchased securities between April 23, 2009 and July 27, 2011.

It will be interesting to see how these lawsuits turn out. What did the cruise line executives know about the accounting errors? When did they learn of the irregularities? What did they do once they learned that the cruise line was performing substantially under expectations? Did they dump their stock realizing that the price was artificially high? Or did they act prudently and responsibly once the accounting mistakes were brought to their attention?

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